Mícheal Fitzgerald has a bit of a grá for Ronan Keating when he's not riding his bike (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
Having missed this year's Rás because of crash injuries, former international and Rás rider Brian Ahern has been working as a analyst for us this week. In this dispatch he runs the rule over those county riders still riding strongly well into the second half of this race. And he recalls some, erm, intimate moments with Mícheal Fitzgerald of the visitnenagh.ie team.
My first race was an U12 event in Kildare village in 1993. My Dad drove to the race with two bikes on the roof-rack tied on with a piece of rope. I jumped on his 24” Tony Doyle Ammaco so-called racing bike and finished 3rd while my brother Colm won the U/16 event - the Paddy Flanagan Memorial.
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Throughout my teenage years that became a Sunday ritual in my house. The same can be said for many other cycling households around the country. My parents always told me that I’d only realise how expensive a sport cycling was when I had to pay for it myself. They were right.
The amount of money, time and energy put in by parents of underage riders is often taken for granted as they support their kids through blood, sweat and tears. However, I don’t think their time and energy is wasted. Cycling has helped me and many others like me yo stay away from the distractions faced by all teenagers; discos, drink and women being the most common.
I’m the same age as Thomas Lavery and we raced together from the age of about 13. We’d often meet up for a 20km training spin doing laps of the Phoenix Park with another underage superstar Gavin Stapleton.
Thomas won’t mind me saying that he was a rather “big boned” teenager and it took him a little while to be able to keep up with myself and Gavin. His forte was time-trialling and this is the discipline in which he won a few underage National Championships.
Another thing we have in common is that we are both the proud owners of a yellow jersey from the Junior Tour of Ireland 1999. He won the prologue time-trial riding Rás legend Philip Cassidy’s time-trial bike.
Afterwards he was interviewed by a young Katherine Thomas for the teenagers' sports show “The Grip”. His interview was priceless and in it he used the phrase “to the max” and finished with the phrase “A donkey never wins the Derby” when referring to himself and the bike he was riding.
Yesterday, Thomas Lavery riding for the Waterford Comeragh team went on the attack, taking the bunch by surprise. I can honestly say that I don’t know too many other guys who show such heart, grit and determination as Thomas.
He also has an incredible ability to suffer. He may not have gotten a result out of it but I have no doubt that he enjoyed his day and made his dad following in the Comeragh team car very proud.
Incidentally, last week after the Shay Elliot memorial in Bray, Co Wicklow, Thomas drove straight down the country to do his night shift as a member of the Garda Síochana.
Tim Barry of Aquablue was another rider going on the attack yesterday.
He missed the front group and unfortunately for him, he was left alone trying to close to the front group. He made the decision to sit up and wait for the bunch but you can rest assured that he’ll try again before the week is out.
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Another county rider going on the attack yesterday was 21-year-old Stuart Henry of the Down Chain Reaction team. Henry is lying 114th overall @48’38” off the yellow jersey. That’s the stuff that county riders are famous for and behalf of all the Irish cycling public I would like to say well done Stuart for giving it a go!
A few years ago Odhrán Connors of the Dublin Dundrum Orwell Team did something similar, going on an unsuccessful attack. As he was absorbed by the peloton a German professional rider turned to him and said: “You are zuch an amateur!” Odhrán does a priceless impression of it... if you see him over the next few days ask him to do it.
Mícheal Fitzgerald, or Fitzy, of the visitnenagh.ie team once again proved that he is the best county rider bunch finisher in this years’ Rás yesterday. I rode my first Rás in 2001 on a star-studded Derry Classic Walls team managed by Stevie Chivers. I was riding alongside Fitzy, Brian Keneally, Ray Clarke and Stephen O’Sullivan, who is this year’s An Post Rás route designer. Those four riders are all ex- Rás stage winners and/or national champions. As a young inexperienced rider I learned so much from all these guys about cycling.
One day after a stage I was sharing with Fitzy and he was singing in the shower, belting out ‘Rollercoaster’ by Ronan Keating – a real classic. I complimented him on his beautiful tuneful singing voice and he went on to tell me about auditioning for Louis Walsh.
I was never quite sure if he was being serious – about anything in fact. He also did a bit of male modelling. I remember him talking about how great cycling is as a sport of bringing young guys out of their shell. As part of the same discussion he said “I used to be shy....” and everybody cracked up laughing.
Another rider deserving of a mention is Aaron O’Donohue of the South Dublin team. He’s currently lying 5th in the county rider classification in 53rd position on GC. I don’t know very much about Aaron but as I was watching riders on the start line in Dunboyne last Sunday he did catch my eye he gave his wife and young child a loving embrace. It really was a Kodak moment......
The county riders may not all agree with me, but on paper yesterday appeared to be an easier day for the riders. The fact that there is now a smaller bunch of 141 riders makes the race much less hectic and will help the remaining amateurs. In spite of that, yesterday was still a stage of 150kms at an average speed of 44kph on heavy Irish roads.
Many riders are now in unchartered territory. The longest race the county riders have completed this year would have been the four-day Rás Mumhan over the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. Many have no idea how their bodies will respond to the hammering they are taking.
This morning they will have force fed themselves porridge, scrambled eggs, beans and perhaps some pasta at 7.30am trying to finish eating by 8am to allow their bodies have three hours to digest the food.
After breakfast they will have returned to their bedroom, pinned their now frayed race numbers on their jerseys and tried to relax for a little longer. What will keep them motivated is the dream of seeing that finish line in Skerries this Sunday and being reunited with their families.
The Rás has too many hard luck stories to mention but spare a thought for a few lads. Paddy Clarke of the Mayo Castlebar Fedaia Bikes team got his right hand caught up in wheel spokes, fracturing his finger and taking a chunk out of his thumb. Eoin Morton of UCD managed to face-plant into a pot-hole but started today like a bloodied soldier.
One of the worst things about crashing is the dreaded road rash. The quickest way for it to heal is by leaving the scars open to the air. Unfortunately, this means that a rider can’t roll over in his sleep. It also means that they wake up with the bed sheets sticking to the scars and need to rip it off quickly the following morning. That’s just an extra bit of pain that these men go through.
You sometimes forget that these guys are on their holidays.
Brian
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